Zebre Parma vs Ulster Sat 21st Oct KO 13:00

[Cap'n Grumpy]

BTW, wot time was kick-off?

BST, GMT or Central European time?

Asking for a friend.

[Marco]

Totally bizarre decision by Zebre, who deserved a win imho, to opt to tap the ball rather than reset a scrum at the end after French was put out of his misery, and 95% guarantee a pen try. Some promising attack moves, plus encouraging games from Treadwell, Stewart, Stockdale and subs Timoney/Uzuchukwe, but defence non existent, at times farcical, and brain fart pens, like Addison going straight in at the side of a ruck, straight in front of the referee. Am reserving judgement at this stage,other than to observe that I have absolutely no idea what the defence coach has been doing since May, must have some garden.

[rumncoke]

The back row needs to be sorted as to who does what .

First phase and second phase one on one does not work . The ABs defence is two man tackles one low very low and one at normal height.

The tackler low has the added advantage in that he ends up behind the advancing carrier and interferes with the formation of the pod when rolling away .

The defence yesterday suffered because of the inexperience of the Flannery / Curtis combination at 10 /12 and a disorganised back row
which is the key area of the field how does a defence coach can organise a defence when those positions are fluid from week to week .

the thing about leinster and Ireland is those players Back row 10 /12 have only minor changes during the season and players roles are defined . We complain that the Ireland team picks its self it is this fact that provides its success .

You don't find full backs playing on the wing the players automatically know there role before they come onto the pitch.

[jean valjean]

Rum the whole point of a defence coach is so that ALL players have an idea of what they should be doing at any particular time especially off set piece and following that phase play.
Things like setting pillars, whether we rush or drift, line speed are non negotiables and everyone in the squad needs to know their role when on the pitch. Yes, consistent combinations allow greater understanding but that is not an excuse for players seemingly not knowing the defensive plan. Which begs the question is there one?

[CIMANFOREVER]

Amazing stuff.....

James French... can't hack 10mins in Parma. Another great agent? Or standard sh**e from Bryn Cunningham?

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Given his history of dud signings this one (along with McGrath) rests squarely on the shoulders of Bryn Cunningham.

According to scrum guru Dan both went well. What credibility really is left?

[CIMANFOREVER]

Addison to centre until Stu Returns. Lowry back to 15

[MightyRearranger]

Amazing stuff.....

James French... can't hack 10mins in Parma. Another great agent? Or standard sh**e from Bryn Cunningham?

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

Given his history of dud signings this one (along with McGrath) rests squarely on the shoulders of Bryn Cunningham.

According to scrum guru Dan both went well. What credibility really is left?

Maybe Dan spent the last ten minutes hiding behind the sofa like the rest of us, so didn't see the closing passage of play?

Did McGrath do a lot wrong? Not a world beater, but when we've so little coming through at THP ourselves and have no money I'm not sure how much better we're going to do for a third choice THP. Ross Kane and Kyle McCall (playing there for Hinch yesterday) are the only two local lads I can think of still playing and both of them had a fairly torrid time with injuries while under contract here.

[Big-al]

Scott Wilson had a good underage career. Where is he playing?

[shamalicious]

Scott Wilson had a good underage career. Where is he playing?

Queen's I think

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[CIMANFOREVER]

Amazing stuff.....

James French... can't hack 10mins in Parma. Another great agent? Or standard sh**e from Bryn Cunningham?

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

Given his history of dud signings this one (along with McGrath) rests squarely on the shoulders of Bryn Cunningham.

According to scrum guru Dan both went well. What credibility really is left?

Maybe Dan spent the last ten minutes hiding behind the sofa like the rest of us, so didn't see the closing passage of play?

Did McGrath do a lot wrong? Not a world beater, but when we've so little coming through at THP ourselves and have no money I'm not sure how much better we're going to do for a third choice THP. Ross Kane and Kyle McCall (playing there for Hinch yesterday) are the only two local lads I can think of still playing and both of them had a fairly torrid time with injuries while under contract here.

Kane was a step above these guys. If we weren't hammered at Loose as well, I could see Warwick move across.
Both McCall and Kane played reasonably well to ERC level, much higher capability than these guys. Ulster has a poor record of developing props. Given this, any professional business would acquire the knowledge to develop a sucession plan , us excepted it seems. There are some great scrum coaches out there- are we hiring them or indeed trawling the schools withna specific development plan?
Wilson will join a long line of talent before him who will be let drift off.

[Big-al]

Watched the highlights again there. Aside from missed tackles from the likes of Lowry, Addison and Flannery, the defence was an embarrassment, even the maul. Really not sure how treadwell got MOTM!!!

Multiple times the zebre mail sheered off our forwards as if they weren’t there, Treadwell & Rea especially. The defensive line looked like a mix up of a player shooting, missing his man and the rest drifting leaving big gals. Torn to absolute shreds, the forwards got lazy coming around the corner. Tom Stewart didn’t cover himself in glory for one of the tries either, too slow to get around to the blindside and Zebre almost ran in untouched. The Bulls will have a field day next Sunday.

BTW, I thought McCann was our best player. If he keeps that up, he’ll get a lot of gametime. He looks bigger & bulkier as well. Was as big as Treadwell when standing next to him.

[justinr73]

Think Tredders made a couple of eye catching gallops forward. He wasn’t expecting that tap tackle when he was heading for the line in the second half!

I thought we’d signed someone called Mark cos they were all shouting for him.

The impression that I got (impaired view and judgement notwithstanding) was that our line speed was frequently not good enough and they were running hard and straight at us and knocking us back.

Their lineout and maul was good and their warm up matches were all close (against Oyonnax, Glasgow and Treviso).

Mildly amusing moment when one of our number asked one of their fans if he was English (he clearly wasn’t but I reckon he’d gone over for public school).

He scoffed and said he’d have been less offended to have been called a Warren Gatland.

[Dave]

Watched the highlights again there. Aside from missed tackles from the likes of Lowry, Addison and Flannery, the defence was an embarrassment, even the maul. Really not sure how treadwell got MOTM!!!

Multiple times the zebre mail sheered off our forwards as if they weren’t there, Treadwell & Rea especially. The defensive line looked like a mix up of a player shooting, missing his man and the rest drifting leaving big gals. Torn to absolute shreds, the forwards got lazy coming around the corner. Tom Stewart didn’t cover himself in glory for one of the tries either, too slow to get around to the blindside and Zebre almost ran in untouched. The Bulls will have a field day next Sunday.

BTW, I thought McCann was our best player. If he keeps that up, he’ll get a lot of gametime. He looks bigger & bulkier as well. Was as big as Treadwell when standing next to him.

I was surprised with that too. A zebre player would have been more deserving. It was the Italian TV pundits that awarded it to Treadwell too!

We need to at least have big Stu, Herring and TOT back next week. Hendy soon after...hopefully.

[justinr73]

Anyroad, we’re five points up on Leinster whilst the ‘dream team’ of Peel and Payne ship sixty at the Bulls.

[Deraless]

Tredders was MOTM cos he was on the pitch for 10 mins less than the rest of the team